Container



June 17, 1952 c. E. sLAUGH'rER 2,600,438

CONTAINER Filed Oct. 25, 1946 n l l l l JNVENTOR.

Patented June 17, 1952 UNITED .S ES PATENT v`().Fl=rIl-C;E

2,600,438 vrcoNTAmER "Charles EfSlaughter, New Canaan, Conn.

App1cat'on'0ctoljer25, 1946, ySerial No. l705,550

'1 Claim. '.Cl. .206;45534) This invention relates tojcontainers vandmethods ofma'king the'same and moreparticularly to containers of inexpensive character produced from vtubular sections having closure forming inserts. f

` There 'isti-a tremendous 'demand in` industry orjcontainersv and packaging material of inexpensive character that may be readily produced in large quantities at lost cost.

` Amongthe vobjects. of the present invention is the vproduction `of inexpensive containers from plastic 'tubular sections with inserts desiraloly Vof dissimilar material from that of the plastic section, which'insert carries the closure to produce the container from the section.

Other objects include 'methods of producing such containers. v

VStill further objects and advantages of the present-,invention will appearfrom the more' detailed descriptionset forth below, it being understood that such detailed description is given byway `ofillustration and explanation only, and not by way of limitation, since various changes therein may bemade bythose skilled in the art Without departing -from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

In connection with that more `detailed description, there is shown in the accompanying drawing, in

v,Figure 1,*an end View of one `form of'tubular section'utilized in making containers; in t Figure 2, a longitudinalsection of Figure 1,;'in

Figures, a side elevationiof'tubular tsection used as the casing for `containersin l l Figure 4, a 'blank utilized 'forthe insertior the section of Figures l to 3; in

Figure 5, a view of the blankof VFigure 4 with the ends angularly bent to the body portion; in

Figure 6, a transversesection through a container produced in accordance Vwith the present invention; and in Figure 7, a transverse section through a modified form of container produced in accordance With the present invention.

In accordance with the present invention, containers are produced desirably from two elements, one being a casing of tubular section and the other being an insert of material desirably different from that of the tubular section, and relatively inexpensive, such as cardboard, coated paper, Celluloid or other plastic, etc., which insert carries portions to form closures for the tubular section.

The casing element of tubular section may be of any desired cross-sectional contour such as 2 round, oval,- triangular, etc., desirably provided with a flattened face to 'act as la base section. Such tubular -section is desirably made by extrusion 'processes 'producing 'continuousjlengths of such tubular vsection'which may be lcut toi-the `desired length for the particular container lin hand. `Such 'tubular `section may be extrudedf'fro'm any desired thermoplastic material, particularly thermoplastic' synthetic resinous materials, including cellulose" derivatives, such as the esters and'ethers, for example, cellulose acetatefcell-u lose nitrate; 'cellulose acetate `butyrate, ethei'cellulo'se, benzyl cellulose, etc.; vinyl polymers and copolymers, including polymerized vinyl acetate, polymerized' vinylidene chloride, and copolymers of vinyl chloride and vinylacetate; polymerized styrenes, methacrylate and methylmethacrylate resins; 'polyethylenes; nylon type resinsyetc.

' As illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 of the drawing, the casing may be an extruded tubularsection Vhavingv af'rnore Vor less ovatev deltoid crosssectional configuration I withY a flattened facek 2 tov act "as a base portion. Desirably the tubular sectionis provided with longitudinal internal ribs 3, 3, which project inwardly rointhe inner wall of the section fora short distance.,V which ribs arev desirably placed knear the flattened tace 2 for purposes hereinafter set forth. Itis simple matter "'to produce such internal 'ribs longitudinally onV the section at the time of extrusion. Ifdesired'faceting ribs 4, 4 may' be providedjon the/side `walls `5, 5 of the section for producing light -`reflection, particularly where such faceting ribs are'angulan But such facetingribs are unnecessary in producing 'containers except for an ornamental or identifyingpurpose. l. o

Vlro'm continuous lengths Lofjsuch' extrudedsections Las.' that illustratedin :Figures Tandil, ldiscrete lengths such 'as v6, Figuref; may be' cuto'f the 'length' necessary for Vthe particular container, and during such cutting operation, the ends 1, 1 of the section furthest from the base 2 may be depressed or deformed for purposes hereinafter set forth.

The element used to produce closures for the section such as that of Figures 1 to 3, to produce a container from the latter may take the form of any desired blank of cardboard, coated paper, plastic such as Celluloid or other material having end portions adapted to be angularly bent with respect to the body portion of the blank, which end portions are given a contour simulating that of the internal cross-section of the casing. As shown in Figure 4, such insert may have an elongated rectangular body portion 8, provid-- ed with ends 9, 9 of ovate deltoid form simulating the cross-section of the tubular section of Figures 1 to 3. The ends 9, 9 of the blank of Figure 4 are adapted to be bent angularly, for example, at right angles as shown at I9, I9, Figure 5, and the ends 9, 9, may be provided with notches II, I I, positioned on the ends near the body portion 8 at points Where when the insert is placed within the section of Figures 1 to 3, the notches II, II will engage against the ribs 3, 3', of the casing section. To facilitate bending the ends 9, 9 angularly with respect to the body portion 8, the blank may be scored as shown at I2, I2. The blank of Figure 4 is formed into the insert of Figure 5 by bending the ends 9, 9 angularly such as at right angles to the body portion 8.

To produce the container, the insert of Figure 5 is inserted within the tubular section of Figure 3, as shown assembled in Figure 6 with the ends 9, 9 of the insert of Figure 5 forming closures for the section of Figure 3, the ends of the sheet material of the closure forming eiements being held rigidly in position by engagement of the notches II, II against the ribs 3, 3 of the section and the engagement of the outer peripheral portions I3, I3 of the ends 9, 9 within the deformed or depressed ends 1, 'l of the section shown in Figure 3. Any article such as a tooth brush I4 placed on the body portion 8 of the insert before the latter is placed in position within the section of Figure 3, will thus be packaged simply and inexpensively in a container produced from two such elements all as more particularly shown in Figure 6.

Any types of articles may thus be packaged including tooth brushes, pencils, pens, thermometers, etc. Such articles may be attached by stapling or otherwise to the body portion 9 of the insert before the latter is placed in position to produce the final container.

If desired, the ends of the completed container as shown in Figure 6 may be dipped or coated with a sealing lacquer or other coating composition to insure sealing of the ends although this is not essential.

vThe insert may be provided with only one end sealing portion or closure forming element where one end of the linished container is to be open and this is illustrated in Figure 7 where the tubular section I similar to that of Figure 3 is provided With an insert 8 having one closure forming end 9' to which has been secured a thermometer element I5. The insert 8 is inserted into the section I as shown in Figure 7 with the end 9' of such insert forming a closure, the container being open at one end.

Containers and packages produced in accordance with the present invention are relatively inexpensive and may be thrown away after sale of the goods, particularly when produced from an extruded section as shown in Figure 3 and a cardboard or coated paper insert of the character shown in Figure 4. Further, while the notches II, I I on the insert of Figure 4 are desirably used together with ribs 3, 3 on the section of Figure 3, such notches and ribs may be omitted and containers produced, although a better locking and sealing effect is obtained with the structure shown. If desired, only one rib 3 may be used together with one pair of notches II, II but the more desirable form of device is that shown in Figures l5.

The ribs 3, 3 are important because of the several functions they exhibit. They serve to guide the insert into its proper position when the parts are being assembled assuring the correct assembly and placement of the insert with respect to the casing, and once thus placed, the ribs retain the insert in its proper position locked rather secure- 1y against displacement. Further by thus positioning the insert they assure proper alignment of the ends 9, 9 with the ends of the casing and when the ends 9, 9 are formed into closure position, they are held rigidly in position by the ribs 3, 3 in the notches I I, I I.

Having thus set forth my invention, I claim:

A display container comprising an extruded open-ended tubular section of synthetic resinous material having a flattened base and Walls converging above that base, a pair of opposite longitudinal discrete internal integral ribs near the base of the inner portions of said converging walls, said ribs projecting inwardly from the inner portions of the walls for a short distance, and a flat elongated rectangular insert serving as a display surface on which an article to be displayed may be placed, said ribs substantially contacting the upper edges of the insert and holding the insert slidably but securely in place within the container against the base by contact with said ribs.

CHARLES E. SLAUGHTER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 749,359 Butler Jan. 12, 1904 1,362,820 Rinker Dec. 2l, 19,20 1,877,568 Erl et al Sept. 13, 1932 1,881,316 Horvath Oct. 4, 1932 1,989,944 Quigg Feb. 5, 1935 2,419,745 Trecek Apr, 29, 1947 2,435,826 Greene Feb. 10, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 221,766' Switzerland Jan. 4, 1943 

